Students are stressed. Parents are stressed. As if the college application process weren’t nerve-wracking enough, the new Common App has made it nearly impossible for thousands of students to upload, preview, and submit their college applications.

The New York Times recently published an article outlining many of the issues applicants are facing. From blank print preview pages to essays that are devoid of all proper formatting, the errors are significant. With deadlines for early decision and early action schools rapidly approaching, some colleges are being forced to accommodate students experiencing major technical glitches. The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill was among the first schools to push back their EA deadline, but Barnard College, the University of Chicago, Duke, Columbia, Tufts, and Northwestern have similarly followed suit with their early deadline extensions.

This morning, the Common Application sent out their “September 2013 School Officials Update,” which offers a few tips and reminders for completing CA4. According to their newsletter (sign up for it here), they are now “actively exploring how to clarify processes surrounding print preview, fee waivers, self-reported testing, and essay pasting.” Clearly, the bugs and glitches we saw surrounding the new Common App were not limited to the first few days of its existence! Until using the Common App becomes a truly hassle-free experience, here are a few more suggestions to help you best manage CA4.

Universities are places where debate and argument are fostered in all academic realms: science, philosophy, law, culture, politics. More often than not, they are places where students encounter the “other” — those holding beliefs that might seem “different” or “strange.” Conflicts are bound to arise in such environments. But how does one conduct himself when he sees an opportunity to make an argument that goes against the grain? That’s the question facing students who choose to answer the Common Application’s essay prompt number three:

Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?

I know, I know. I promised you 10 tips to help you make the most of the new Common Application. But I can’t help it! If you missed the first two posts, be sure to read part 1 and part 2. Here are two more important facts I’d love to share with you.

11. Where can I upload my résumé?

When Common App officials first spread the word that résumé uploads would no longer be part of the main application, they attempted to assuage families’ fears by saying résumé uploads would be possible if specific colleges asked for such documents on their supplements. Seems fair, right? But now that we’ve had a chance to view more than 100 supplements, it’s clear that the majority of schools are not asking for a résumé.

By now you have probably taken the first step and have created your account on the Common Application website. Congrats! But by now you probably also have come across a roadblock. While we certainly can’t eradicate all of the website’s technical difficulties, we are confident that the five additional Common App tips below will make the completion process a little easier.

6. It’s all in the family

So what do you do if your dad is a retired physician, or your mom is a pastry chef? While the application used to provide a place for students to enter their parents’ specific job titles, now you must select from one of 45 generic job fields, such as “business executive” and “semi-skilled worker.”

Late on July 31st, the 2013-14 Common Application went live, enabling thousands of eager students to get a head start on completing their college applications. And while the newly touted design is supposed to provide a more intuitive user-friendly experience, many students are running into unexpected and understandably frustrating difficulties. Common Application officials assure us that they are hard at work trying to fix a host of glitches and errors, especially those revolving around college specific supplements. In the meantime, however, we’ve put together ten tips and suggestions to help you successfully navigate and make the most of the new Common Application.

Our first five tips are listed below; stay tuned for the remaining five later this week. Have a question about strategies around the new Common Application? Post it below, and one of our College Coach admissions experts will answer it!

How to Write the Common App Essay Prompt About Failure

Today we continue our series of posts on common application essay topics. The second prompt asks students to, “Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you and what lessons did you learn?”

While most essay topics offer an open door for you to relate an accomplishment, moment of triumph, or positive personal attribute, this one asks instead that you to begin with failure. This isn’t some trap that the Common App has laid for unsuspecting students, nor is it an opportunity for you to score extra humility points with an admission office. It is, however, a prompt that requires care and thoughtfulness in its execution. A well-written “failure” essay can demonstrate remarkable growth and maturity, while a flippant or shallow version will cause you to lose ground with application readers.

It’s mid-July, and I’m sure most soon-to-be seniors are enjoying a much needed respite from school work, term papers, and standardized testing. But the halcyon days of summer, unfortunately, will eventually come to an end. It’s not a bad idea to get started on the main Common Application essay — get it out of the way before it has to compete for your attention against tests, papers, extracurricular activities, and any supplemental application essay questions, most of which get published August 1st.

So where does one even begin when tackling the Common App essay? Is there anything in particular colleges want to see? Let’s start with the first essay prompt (we’ll dive into the rest as the weeks progress):

Beginning with the 2014 application cycle, the Common Application now formally accommodates non-academic recommendation letters through the online portal, in addition to those from teachers and counselors. So, how do you make the best use of this option?

The answer may be this: by doing nothing at all. Each college requests the relevant data they need to make informed admissions decisions. While some colleges actively request a non-academic reference, most do not. In many cases, that is because an extra recommendation letter is not necessary.

I am so excited for the new Common Application (CA4)! I’ve been following all of the updates and attended the First Look webinar, and am looking forward to the August 1 rollout. Here are some of my favorite changes:

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